Darkness isn't the only thing to fear
by DustyLeaves
Summary: 7 years has passed since Pitch was thrown down in his lair and the world has been at peace ever since. Though, strange unexplainable things start to happen and the normal peaceful days are ruined once again.
1. Chapter 1

This story takes place about 7 years after the Guardians defeated Pitch.  
And just a thing to take note of; Jack and Toothiana are together in this story and have been so for about 5 years I would say. It's not the main focus of the story though, but just a nice side thing to know to maybe understand some parts of the story better v u v

I hope you'll like it and the future chapters that will come up!

* * *

It had been a normal day, a rather regular plain and boring, normal day.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, spectacular or extraordinary, everything was simply just very plain and very normal.

Not that normal was wrong, but sometimes normal could get tiring and repetitive.

Jack was at the North Pole, together with Bunnymund and Toothiana. They just had a meeting, and decided to relax with a movie before departing again. Sadly Sandy had to leave before that so he could continue his work. It was a nice 'tradition' they had come up with; meet up once a year to have their annual meeting of; what is happening, how is it going, is trouble lurking etc. and end it with a movie or board game.

For 7 years so far, after they sent Pitch back down to his lair, there had been peace. It was a calm time, a serene time… a normal time.

But who could complain about normal if it meant peace?

Still, as the three guardians were huddled together on the couch, watching whatever was on the TV as North continued to work, Jack was about to fall asleep by simply being too bored.

He enjoyed being here though, like this. He leaned against Aster, and Tooth against him and his arm was draped gently over her shoulder.

Jack grinned as he noted that she had already fallen asleep, and he bowed his head to place a short kiss on her forehead

"Oh please, get a room" Bunnymund rolled his eyes with a kind grin, whispering to not wake her up.

"What, are you jealous?" Jack chuckled, keeping his voice low

"You'd like to think so wouldn't you?"

"C'mere, I'll give you kiss"

Jack puckered his lips, much resembling a fish, to which Bunnymund simply huffed out a short laugh before he put his paw over Jack's face. "Take a nap, ye?"

The frost spirit removed his face, sputtering a bit "urgh- hair ball" before chuckling and resting his head down again.

"Don't whimper now" the Pooka patted Jacks shoulder, chuckling before he continued to watch the TV. It didn't take long before both Bunnymund and Jack fell asleep.

It was a beautiful setting really. Three friends (or two lovers and a friend) tangled together and all three sleeping together. North came by to check up on them, and snickered at the sight. It wasn't the first time they fell asleep like that, and usually if Sandy was here, he would be sleeping next to Tooth.

North turned off the TV and the lights and left them to have their moment of rest.

Jack woke up hours later, rubbing his tired eyes and stretching his entire body. He found that he had an awful lot of space to move around on, and sat up, realizing that the others were gone. He shrugged it off though, knowing that both Tooth and Bunny were busier than Jack.  
Yawning, he stood up and let a hand run through his hair, waiting for his eyes to get used to the dark. The usual red and orange glow to Norths factory was gone, and replaced with a much more dim and dull blue, making it rather hard for him to orientate himself in the room. He had to find the light switch, and proceeded to walk to the walls of the room, successfully bumping into the coffee table with his foot.

He hopped on one leg as he held his foot, before the stinging pain went away and at the wall he ran his hand over it to look for the switch.

"Ah there you are" he mumbled to himself and clicked it- but nothing happened. "…Jesus North, you run an entire factory but you don't know how to switch a light bulb?" Jack grinned shortly. He didn't take much note of it though, his eyes had already gotten used to the dark, so he went over to pick up his staff and decided to look for the big jolly ol' fella'.

Though as he walked to the door, he had to stop midway when he felt something crack and sting in his mouth.

He moved his tongue around to remove whatever it was from his teeth, only to gasp by a sudden sting off pain. Something that resembled a small rock clacked against his teeth, and quickly he spat it out in his hand. Due to the lack of light, he had a hard time seeing what it was.

Another sting of pain in his mouth, and he coughed as what he assumed was another rock was about to slip down his throat. The coughing didn't stop until he sputtered it out on the floor, and a metal liquid along with it, slid down his chin.

He dropped his staff only to run to the nearest bathroom. The bright light still worked out there, and in a matter of second he threw the rock from his hand down in the sink. It wasn't a rock though. It was white and small with one flat side and the other side with 4 small spikes. It was a tooth.

The pain was there again and he groaned. Looking up to see his illuminated pale face in the mirror. He saw blood trailing down his mouth.

The blue eyes widened by the sight, and carefully Jack opened his mouth to look inside.

His teeth were bloody, loose and falling off one by one. The sound of the sturdy white ivories ripping loose from the pink, bleeding nerves and flesh was disgusting. Adding the pain that spread to his head and down his neck, the shivers down his spine and to his legs. It made him panic.  
Jack bend over the sink, spitting, coughing and trying to scream, but the blood kept building up in his mouth and not allowing him to do so. He threw up in the sink, and eventually his legs gave in and he fell to the hard cold floor. Gasping and shaking, he finally managed to open his mouth and shouted out a heart-breaking 'HELP!'


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as the words had escaped his lips, he found himself looking wide-eyed up at a mahogany coloured ceiling. Beautiful ornaments in the colours of Christmas, decorated every inch of it, and the peach light from the lamps gave a warm feeling to the room. He was laying on something soft again- fur in fact.

Jack was back on the couch with Bunny and Tooth. Gasping, he sat up. The other guardians were already awake, as his scream hadn't been audible in only his head, but also in the room.

"What happened?" Bunny exclaimed. "You alright?!" Tooth continued, with a more motherly tone to her voice as she held Jacks face with her small hands and looked into his eyes.

The boy was still breathing heavily, trying to orientate himself. Had it just been a dream? In a short moment of panic he brought a hand up to his mouth to touch his teeth, sighing out in relief as they were still there.

It puzzled the fairy and Pooka. "I'm alright…" he explained and ran a hand through his hair sighing. "I just- had a nightmare"

"You don't say?" Bunnymund allowed a sarcastic comment to slip.

His breathing had returned to normal and he chuckled off Asters comment. "Yes, I am a true Sherlock"

The chuckle made Tooth visibly relax "Do you want me to go fetch Sandy? Just to make sure you won't get plagued by more bad dreams"

"No it's alright. I'm fine now" Jack reassured with a light smile. "Alright" Tooth sighed out, obviously still worried despite the calmer smile on her face.

"Well, it ought to be time for us to return home ye'?" Bunnymund spoke as he gave Jack's shoulder a light pat and stood up.

They couldn't do much about nightmares. They happened once in a while, and not all were by Pitch, so for now, there was no reason to blow up a fire that barely was there.

"Roger" Jack made a mocking salute before he got off the couch as well, moving Tooth up with him as he did.

They said their goodbyes, Toothiana giving Jack a brief kiss and asking if he wanted to come with her to the Tooth Palace just for safety. He chuckled though, telling her that she worried far too much for her own good, to which she could only smile, and by the tap of a foot and the bat of four pair of wings, the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny was gone. Jack followed suit, but only after fetching a pen and a paper to write a small goodbye to North, and off he was, gliding through the wind with his staff, tightly held in his right hand.

* * *

As the landscapes changed beneath Jack, from snow and ice to the sea and then to land once again, the nightmare was long forgotten. Flying through the cold wind, he felt more free than ever. It was one of the moments he enjoyed the most; to be out in the open. It was his playground, his natural habitat and how he loved to fling himself about in the wind

He was in Burgess, and light as a feather he stepped down on a rooftop and observed the town below.

It was Saturday and noon: children were playing in the streets, adults out shopping or working, the worn out street lights flickered despite it was during the day and a dog zoomed past its owner successfully starting a chase into the old park.

The frost guardian chuckled at the sight, and with ease he jumped down to the crowded street. He didn't linger for long, as right as his feet had touched the cement he bounced off, jumped up on a car, then the wall of an office building and jumped yet again to one on the opposite side. He continued like this, leaving frosty crystal patterns wherever he stepped.

He kept going, never tiring out, and reached the outskirts of the town.

As he stepped down on a power cord, all lights went out. Not just the streetlights and the houses, but the sun as well. Not even the moon was up.

Jack felt his heart skip a beat, his eyes wide as he tried to find sense in this, but there was none. He looked down and saw nothing; no kids, no adults, no cars, no flickering commercial posts or barking dogs.

As he looked up, there was not a star or cloud on the sky, and no sign of there ever have been. His heart kept beating faster "What is happening...?" he mumbled to himself, finding his voice giving off a sounding echo through out Burgess.

There was a roaring silence a painful silence even… not even the wind blowing a paper down the street could be heard, because there was no wind.

Jack ran from the power cord to a housetop and then to the next again. He couldn't even use the wind himself and had to be careful with where and how he stepped. He found the fire steps on the side of the house, and rushed down, much more clumsy than he would want to be. With a staff in one hand and a heart beating in your throat, it was hard to keep a proper grip. His foot slipped and he fell the last two meters, his back aching as he hit the ground and the staff flew out of his hand and landed on the ground, giving off no sound.

With a frantic move, Jack caught the dark old stick in his hand. It was here he realized that the frost that always appeared when he touched his staff didn't appear this time. It was simply gone.

He looked on the edges of his hoodie; it was the same. His pants; same again. No frost.

Panic had started to rise in the boy, and his feet began to run. Running where to, he didn't know, he just ran.

"Anyone here?!" He shouted through out the city, hearing nothing but his voice bounce off the walls. "Anyone? Please!" he kept going. He shouted for several minutes with no reply, and minutes turned to hours.

Jack was hoarse, his throat dry and his lungs burning when he reached the forest. His feet ached with blisters, and all the pain was new to him, painfully new as his feet usually never ached and his lungs never complained. When he reached the fallen snow in the forest, he fell down on his knees and gasped for air, his voice so raspy he couldn't get a word out, and with a sudden pain coming from his temples, everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey Jack! Jack wake up!"

The voice was familiar and the white haired teen wanted to answer it, but he couldn't. He was too exhausted to do so.

He tried parting his lips to answer, but they simply gave a light smack and no words came up.

Trying to open his eyes, he noticed how hard it was, as his eyelashes were stuck together from crying. He couldn't recall having cried though.

The voice called again and shook his shoulder, and finally he managed to drag an arm up to run his hand over his face and rub his eyes, before he blinked them open. What he saw was nothing of what he wished for though.

The world around him was still nothing of his own. In a few seconds of bliss he had forgotten about the darkness and solitude that had surrounded him hours ago, but now that he was awake again, it all came rushing back to him.

A small skeleton stood in front of him with remains of skin, muscles and veins sticking to its bones. The grass underneath its bony feet faded away and withered and Jack gasped as he tried to crawl away. "Jack! Are you okay?" The skeleton seemed to be the size of a small boy.

Finally Jacks back met with a tree and he pushed himself up. Ash has started to fall from the sky and as he got something in his eye, he quickly blinked it away and by every blink, the world around him blurred and gradually turned brighter.

By the seventh blink, Burgess was back to normal. The blue sky and tufts of green grass, the kids running in the streets, cars being driven to work, shops selling their goods and Jamie.

Jamie was standing in front of him with a puzzled and worried look in his eyes, but Jack could only smile. No sight was as precious as Jamie right now, and the spirit took three steps closer, fell to his knees and dragged the boy into his arms.

"Thank you" his voice was still hoarse and it surprised even Jack just how little volume it had.

Jamie, obviously confused, gave Jack an awkward pat on the back. "You okay Jack?" He asked nervously as he had found the guardian lifeless on the ground minutes before.

"Yes, everything is fine now" Jack reassured him and held the boys shoulders. "You really are a guardian" he chuckled as he looked into his eyes, but he had to stop the snicker to not end up coughing.

"You didn't look fine…" Jamie mumbled and frowned at him. The kid was stubborn and smart, and well aware of something being up. Jack was a sturdy person, a never bending character and role model to Jamie. Having seen him unconscious on the ground and seemingly be scared by the sight of the young boy, troubled him.

Jack gave him a light smile, respecting his worry. "Everything will_ be_ fine. _That_ is a promise" His voice had gained some of its power, but he continued to whisper as it hurt to speak. The younger boy gave him a little nod to which Jack grinned and stood up.

The nightmare last night had been something he could shrug off, but this- this was something of a whole other character. This needed to be addressed as soon as possible.

"I have to go now Jamie, promise me you won't worry alright?"

The boy groaned before nodding, slightly unsure if he could keep that promise. Jack ruffled his hair "I'll be back soon to play with you and your friends again" he grinned before poking his nose, startling the kid. The white haired teen took the opportunity to make a jump and set off into the sky, flying straight to North's workshop.

Watching him fly away, Jamie stood still and gave a light smile, mumbling a "See ya'" to himself, before he continued on his way home.

* * *

For anyone able to see the spirit, they would have spotted nothing but a tiny blue dot in the sky, flying faster than any bird or plane.

Jack squinted his eyes as much as he could, as the wind stung his eyes and made them water up. He didn't care though. He didn't care about his burning throat from shouting for long, or his stiff limbs from holding on too hard to his staff.

The only thing he cared about right now was getting to North.

It took hours to get there, and he barely managed to get time to think as he had to concentrate on not falling off his staff or fly into an unfortunate bird.

Usually it took about nine hours from Burgess, but this time it had taken him two.

Despite that he was a frost spirit, the cold harsh wind had taken it's toll on him. The horizontal icicles that formed from every joint, the tips of his hair and ears, his feet and the end of his staff, hurt and restrained his movements. For once, the ice actually hurt him.

Spotting the open window on the top floor to North shop, a window North had the habit of always keeping open for Jack to use, Jack aimed for it and fell rather then flew in.

He didn't have a chance to stop the fall, nor protect himself from the impact as he fell straight down on the hard wooden floor with a loud thud. He hit his left shoulder first and tumbled on the ground, half of the icicles breaking off him. He wasn't cold, but he felt sore and numb, thought that didn't worry him. What worried him more was the lack of pain from his shoulder, or his inability to register it.

His staff was still in his hand, as he was unable to open his fist to release it. He groaned and felt a warm liquid running down from his forehead and over his eyes, but it froze before the first drop could fall, and the crimson pearl was stuck to his cheek.

"oh great.." he moaned in dismay and tried to move but to no avail, and decided to lay still for now. "North!" Jack tried to call out, but alas his voice was still too weak.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes. The situation was ridiculous to him.

The noise he had caused by his fall had drawn the attention of a couple of yetis. Speaking in their foreign language, their tone indicated their worry of what or who could have entered the pole. They knew that Jack used that window, but he was always graceful and cautious when he landed. Their worry of an intruder was put down as soon as they saw the frost spirit on the floor, but replaced with a worry for his health instead.

"Hey big guys" Jack grinned lightly by the sight of them, honestly happy to see them.

The grin reassured them that jack was all right for now and it didn't take long before they carefully had lifted the teen up and brought him down to The Globe Room. It had the biggest fire on the pole, and he was put on a couch right in front of it. It was strange having to warm up the prince of winter, but it was deemed necessary, and so he was packed into several layers of blankets.

Jack didn't shiver or freeze luckily, and had it been any other than Jack, he or she would have been suffering in a whole other way, if not died.

It was quiet for a while until North busted into the room "Jack!" He exclaimed as he walked towards him with long heavy steps. "How are you? Yetis told me you're stiff as a board!" the unlikeliness to the statement was clear in his voice, but upon seeing the state Jack was in and the fact that only his head popped out from a mountain of blankets- it seemed to be true.

"Hey North" Jack chuckled, and North cocked a brow at his voice. A yeti was busying itself with cleaning off the small amount of blood from Jacks face, but as it had frozen it caused a series of complaining sounds from the yeti.

"I think I need a winter-coat" the spirit continued to joke.

It caused North to smile shortly before sitting down next to him "So. What happened?" he cut straight to the case.

Jack sighed before he recalled his reason to be here, carefully explaining every detail. There was no reason to hide it, especially if these incidents could happen to the other guardians. North's expression turned grave as he took in all the information "then how did all this happen?" he frowned and gestured to Jack's state.

"I flew too fast" he simply replied with a sheepish grin, and felt an icicle from his hair fall off. During their conversation, North had to stand up as the couch and the lower layers of the blankets had gone wet by all the ice melting off.

The teen frowned as the pain from his shoulder suddenly stung through his arm, and he winched trying hard to keep back a pained face.

North didn't notice it, as his back was turned against him. "I shall speak to the others and check up on them. If necessary, I'll call them all here. You sit here and get better, alright?" North declared before turning around, noticing a twitch to Jack's movements.

"You okay?"

Jack groaned and rolled with his head to loosen up his neck "I think the impact with the floor is 'finally' starting to kick in" he said.

North nodded and gave a quick look to a Yeti, Phil actually. He received a stern look, letting North know that Jack was in good hands, and the large man smiled kindly back to Jack. "Phil will take care of you" he reassured the teen, having grown fond of the name Jack had chosen for the yeti "just rest and do as he says" and with that he left the kid, giving him a light pat on the shoulder.

Of course, a light pat for North was enough to make Jack sink two inches down in the couch.

The spirit still gave him a kind nod, but secretly wondering how he would ever be able to follow orders from a yeti he barely understood.


	4. Chapter 4

It didn't take long before the spirit had fallen asleep. A white band-aid was on his forehead, and the wet blankets had been replaced with new warm ones. He had been moved from the couch to a bunch of pillows on the floor, as the couch was still wet. The blankets quickly went cold though due to the boy's nature, and if it hadn't been Jack, the yetis would have taken it as a bad sign.

Meanwhile, North had called up both Tooth and Sandy, but Bunnymund didn't answer. Toothiana hadn't seen or noticed anything strange in her domain, and was on her way to the pole. Sandy though, _did_ have something to tell, but found it easier to try and explain them when he was at the pole.

Thirty minutes passed before the sound of wings beating and sand moving could be heard, and the two guardians entered North's workshop.

"Is Jack alright? He's not hurt is he? Is he cold-! No of course he's cold, he's always cold- is he warm?!" Toothiana didn't waste a second before she bombarded North with caring questions.

North had to put his hands on her shoulders as she flew right up in his face, to ease her down "He's fine Tooth. He's sleeping in The Globe Room" he smiled warmly, only removing half of her worry. She sighed and nodded, frantically moving from side to side as she was ready to flew over to him at any moment.

Sandy frowned at her and flew up next to her to place his hand on hers. "Sandy is right. We need to discuss this first" North spoke more stern. "Sandy. What is it that you have seen?"

The little golden man gleamed, as it was his turn to speak and pondered for a moment to find the best way to explain it. An image above his head formed, showing a sleeping child. The child seemed to be at peace, and Sandy showed the dream the kid had. It was a normal dream about how she became a famous singer. North found himself smiling shortly at the image, before Sandy changed it again.

Suddenly the dream showed the girl in an entire new country, a new age, she was a new person and in a new life. Her surroundings almost look Greek, but it was strange as the girl was far too young to ever have heard about Greece. Not even the Hercules movie was this detailed.

"The dreams are changing?" Toothiana questioned. Sandy nodded in response. "But not by you… or the kids?" He confirmed her question again.

The fairy frowned and looked to North "Pitch?" she mumbled, and right away the Sandman shook his head.

North wasn't sure if this was relieving or not. If it was Pitch, they at least knew whom they were dealing with.

There was a strange silence for a few seconds before Tooth spoke again "I'll check on Jack" and before the others could stop her, she was off to the Globe Room.

"Let's try and get a hold of Bunny then" North spoke to Sandy and the little man nodded.

* * *

Jack slept peacefully, not bothered by nightmares or strange creatures this time, and how he longed for this rest, so when Tooth's small hands shook his shoulder he turned in his sleep with a groan.

The sight made her chuckle and she tried again, speaking his name softly. The boy grumbled again, turning his face into the pillow. He was awake now, that she knew. He turned again to lay on his back and rubbed his eyes and ran a hand across his face, looking up at her with lidded blue eyes and smacked his lips twice. He was definitely not a morning person. "Hey" he spoke with a voice a few tones lower than usual, and a smile found its way to his lips.

"Hey, sleepyhead" Tooth smiled kindly and leaned down to give him a kind short kiss. "How do you feel?"

"Well, a lot better now" Jack grinned, his cocky-ness already back. She couldn't help but chuckle at this and ran a hand through his hair. "North told us about what happened. I hope you had a good sleep?" Jack just hummed an approving sound to her, making her chuckle again.

She allowed herself to lay down next to him, and automatically Jack wrapped one arm around his waist and she put her head on his chest.

"Have you noticed anything strange lately?" Jack frowned, his worry obvious in his voice.

"No, nothing. Sandy have though"

"Sandy? In what way?"

"He says that the children's dreams are changing and it's not him, the kids or Pitch doing it. They are not necessarily bad drams though but… it's alarming when these things are happening to you to"

Absentmindedly, Jack stroked her soft feathers with a thumb "You don't say…" he frowned "It's not Pitch huh?..."

"It makes things a bit more complicated right?" Tooth tried to force out a chuckle, but it was nothing to laugh at and she bit her lower lip right after.

"Indeed… But we'll figure it out" A confident reply came from the frost spirit as he moved his head to place a kiss on her forehead, before letting it fall back again.

* * *

In a secluded land of green fresh grass, blossoming peach pink flowers and ancient buildings covered with plants by age, a Pooka was running around in panic.

His heart beat faster, his nose twitched, ears flattened and he never stopped running. The only few times he slowed down was to pick up a new track or scent.

It bothered him how he couldn't recall what it was. The scent and prints in his Warren was nothing of his own, and nothing he had ever seen. It was no guardian, and it was neither no human, and right when he thought he had caught the scent – it disappeared.

Bunny spotted a glow from him bandolier for the hundred time. It was North calling him, _again._ He knew that when the man called he was obligated to answer, but right now he was frankly too upset to even think about answering. When North tried to call three times after each other, the light annoyed the Pooka's eyes and he pulled the small wooden pendant out. A blue shimming form shaped from it and North's head and shoulders could be seen.

"What!?" Bunny shouted right away, causing the large man to look wide eyed at him. A tiny sandman flew up next to him with a large smile and waved at him. Sandman was with him? This had to be somewhat important then.

"Glad to see you're okay Bunny" North finally spoke, chuckling to ease the tension.

The Pooka scoffed "What do you want North?"

The large man frowned at him. "To ask if you were okay. You seem troubled?" his voice went from jolly to fatherly.

"Troubled? You could say that yeah, I would be less troubled if someone could tell me why there are bloody hoof marks everywhere in my Warren!"


End file.
